Virgin of Guadalupe Appears

December 9, 1531

A Nahua convert named Juan Diego claimed the Virgin Mary had appeared to him on Tepeyac hill outside Mexico City, speaking Nahuatl and leaving her image imprinted on his cactus-fiber cloak. The shrine of Guadalupe became the spiritual bridge between the Catholic and indigenous worlds of New Spain. The shrine became the Western Hemisphere's most visited Catholic pilgrimage site and a potent symbol of Mexican identity.